Things To Look Out For When Hiring Your Next SEM Specialist

Search engine marketing (SEM) specialist is responsible for planning, organizing, and implementing a company’s overall digital and online marketing strategy. Their job responsibilities entail web marketing, content strategy, keyword planning, data analysis, link building, regular campaign tracking, and more.

Today, businesses are coming to the realization that, in order to stay competitive, they have to augment their online presence with the help of Search Engine Marketing. An SEM specialist optimizes search engine rankings, and utilize them to market their business. Hence, to find a company with impressive ROIs, a business should consider a host of factors while selecting a trusted and experienced search engine marketing company.

Why Do You Need An SEM Expert For Your Business?

An experienced and reputable search engine marketing company can help you in numerous ways that can save a lot of time and money. Here are some reasons why you need to hire an SEM expert for your business:

1. A/B testing

It is critical to optimize every campaign, irrespective of whether it is paid or not, as it is mandatory to measure the success of every business. A company must, thus, continuously perform A/B testing on all its campaigns which is the responsibility of an SEM expert.

2. Quick and easy to implement

SEM is the quickest way to see results as fast as one business day. SEM campaigns are highly flexible and configurable in nature and can be set up in a few hours. Moreover, changes can be made on an ad-hoc basis and can be customized as per the need of the campaign and changes in audience behavior.

3. Keyword research

One of the key reasons for hiring an SEM expert would be the use of competitive analysis tools that help the company effectively track, organize, and understand keywords that offer insights into consumer behavior. This not only improves the visibility of a campaign but can also deliver insights into a competitor’s keyword and ad strategy, helping the business to rank higher in an identical keyword search.

4. SEM team

Having a proficient team of SEM experts is advisable as it is highly cost-effective and can deliver quality results almost immediately. Additionally, an SEM expert is adept with the knowledge and skills of the latest technology and can easily adapt to the changes in the digital marketing world.

5. Ads

An SEM expert has the skills and knowledge to place your ads on a relevant and cost-effective platform that can deliver maximum results. Whether it is Google shopping ads, display ads, or text-based ads, an SEM expert can use them to generate more traffic and income for the business.

What To Look For In Your Ideal SEM Expert?

Here are some of the attributes to look for while hiring a competent SEM professional:

1. SEM experience

2. Organizational skills

One of the skills to look out for is the ability to juggle multiple projects at a time. Having strong organizational skills is a must to keep track of the ongoing campaigns and be able to prioritize work and juggling new projects on a daily basis. Additionally, being honest and flexible is an add-on trait that can help deliver guaranteed results and adapt to new changes seamlessly.

3. Tech-savvy

As an SEM specialist, it is important to have an understanding of how to write HTML, work with CSS, and perform basic web designing. To excel in this field, it is useful to have an understanding of how websites work in relation to search engine rankings.

4. Communication skills

Another trait to look out for in an ideal SEM expert is writing skills and effective communication skills. SEM experts should be proficient at crafting a brand messaging strategy and ad copies that instantly connects with the audience. They must possess good writing skills to deliver superlative content under tight deadlines. They should also be able to use AI writing tools to enhance their writing.

5. Social media

It is equally essential to have extensive knowledge of how social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn operate. As most of these platforms have paid ads, an Search Engine Marketing specialist must be proficient in writing innovative posts and boosting ads on these channels.

6. Data analysis

An analytical mind is an absolute must as an SEM expert will have to analyze website traffic patterns and use various analytical software to drive traffic to the website. The job also requires them to master the skill of combing through vast amounts of data and information on a regular basis.

7. Ability to speak the truth

No matter how skilled, competent, and experienced SEM specialists you hire, getting guaranteed results isn’t practically possible. The nature of SEM is dynamic, and the outcome depends on the users. Thus, a trustworthy SEM expert does not promise to get your website on top of SERP. But, instead gives you the exact dates that will explain the rough scope of work to attain the results shortly. 

8. Excellent writing skills

Content marketing is a pivotal aspect of the job role when you hire SEM expert. They must be able to draft enticing and optimized content to attract more users and hook them to your webpage till the end. 

9. Flexibility

An ideal SEM marketing specialist can quickly adapt to the new digital trends and adjust to the new campaign requirements to stay ahead of the competition. The digital landscape is highly volatile, and it’s thus crucial to keep on top of the latest news and updates.

10. A dose of inquisitiveness

An SEM expert should be curious to learn and ask questions. This will help set clear communication between you and the expert to avoid any delays in work and ensure enhanced performance. The SEM professional must have the zeal to improve your ROI.

Standard SEM Specialist Job Description

SEM specialists are multifaceted and the job requires them to wear many hats. Let us take a look at how the skills listed above translate into a job description for an SEM specialist:

·  Research

For a Search Engine Marketing Specialist, research is an ongoing task as they have to constantly research new and relevant keywords, study competitor keywords to know how they are fairing, research algorithms to target the right keywords, and look for more current keywords and topics that they can work on.

·  Communication

Communication is key in day-to-day business, as one has to respond to clients via emails or over the phone in a timely and professional manner.

·  Content

Content strategy and content creation come under the purview of a Search Engine Marketing specialist’s job description as well. They have to constantly create new content to stay on top of things and develop a content strategy by identifying new opportunities.

·  Campaigns

An SEM specialist also has to design and develop online marketing campaigns that are in line with the brand objectives and goals. They have to implement PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising campaigns (you can also hire dedicated PPC experts for this) and SEO best practices as well.

·  Analysis

As an SEM expert, the job largely includes analyzing and interpreting research and analytic data to manage the marketing strategy. They have to constantly monitor paid search results’ analytics such as redirects, click rates, and customer acquisition rates to drive better and more successful campaigns.

SEM Generalist Vs. A SEM Specialist

An SEM Generalist is a person who primarily works in organic search engine optimization (SEO) while an SEM specialist is an individual with an in-depth understanding of search engine rankings that will bring a website both organic and pay-per-click rankings. Here, it is important to know that there are individuals that fall under both the categories and possess most of the skills mentioned above. What kind of search engine marketer will work for your company entirely depends upon the need, requirement, and online marketing goals of the company.

What Are the Questions To Ask Before Hiring A Search Engine Marketing Specialist?

When taking steps to hire an SEM Specialist, you should have a clear understanding of your business needs and the type of SEM you’ll be seeking to meet those needs. You can start the process by answering these five questions:

1. Does the position require the SEM specialist to work on strategy?
2. Is the role strictly technical in nature or will the Search Engine Marketing specialist be working on content as well?
3. Does the position require SEM specialists to have any kind of certification? If so, what would they be?
4. Would the SEM expert be required to work on social media and display ads and content, or just conduct a local search?
5. Does the job role require the candidate to face the client?

Why You Should Hire Remotely For An SEM Specialist?

Online presence is now a critical element in determining a business’s growth and success and thus the demand for Search Engine Marketing Specialists is on the rise. An SEM consultant can help grow your online business in the following ways:

1. Cost-effective- Search Engine Marketing is a specialized skill and becoming an expert takes a special amount of skills and training that can’t be learned overnight.Hence, it’s always beneficial to hire a remote SEM Consulting company from the start. You can save a lot of time and money spent in training an in-house employee if you hire an expert with competent SEM skills. 
2. Accelerate business growth- With an SEM specialist looking after the overall digital marketing strategy of your business, you can focus your sole attention on the core aspects of your business. This will give you additional time to focus on developing your product range, working on strengthening your customer base, gathering feedback to improve your business, as well as working towards a better customer service program.

How To Vet SEM Specialist

Once you have found a skilled SEM specialist and asked the right questions to help achieve your goals and successes, there are three additional things you should look for to further vet your SEM specialist:

1. You should gauge their ability to work and curiosity to ask the right questions
2. The next step would be to understand if the pay per click specialist possesses the knowledge about the latest trends and technology in the evolving field of search engine marketing
3. And lastly, ensure that they are thoroughly passionate about their work and the online marketing universe

Hiring SEM Specialist From Uplers

Uplers can be your one-stop shop to remotely hire SEM expert from India. This talent powerhouse offers a pre-vetted pool of the top 3.5% of Indian candidates, as well as up to 40% cost savings on hiring. The procedure is straightforward, with the following steps:

• In the form of a well-written job description, state your requirements.
• Uplers will select resumes that are relevant to your requirements.
• Extensive skill screening and assessment tests are administered.
• Profiles are then shortlisted in order to provide you with the best possible match.
• After that, you must conduct an interview to finalize your hire.
• Uplers will then complete all onboarding procedures.

It’s a simple hiring process that will speed up your remote hiring 5X without any hassle.

Conclusion

If you’re looking to hire an SEM specialist, it can always be a challenge to choose the perfect partner. By focusing on skills like effective testing, expert keyword research, ability to work with various ad types and generate results immediately, you’ll be in a better position to hire a competent SEM expert.

Additionally, skills like advanced communication techniques, the ability to develop significant content, and conduct quality research can go a long way in determining the ideal search engine marketing specialist for your online business needs.

We’ve seen that it is advisable to hire a remote SEM specialist for your online business instead of doing it all by yourself as it helps to save an immense amount of money and time as well as allows the company to focus on its core business.

Now that you know what to look for, an efficient partner like Uplers could be the right fit to launch your next search engine marketing campaign.

FAQs

Q1: What is the focus of search engine marketing (SEM)?

A: Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the process of increasing website traffic or attention by using popular search engines or browsing websites. The end goals for any SEM campaign are:

• Increase search rankings on Google SERP.
• Generate more relevant traffic to the web page.
• Optimizing the website to drive more qualified leads or sales.
• Determining content relevance to the search queries for link building.

Q2: What is a good SEM strategy?

A: A good SEM strategy should include the following:

• Clear objective
• Strong keyword research
• Optimized landing page
• Compelling Ad copy
• Quantitative performance metrics

Q3: What does a SEM specialist do?

A: An SEM specialist performs the following duties:

• Perform extensive keyword research
• Execute and manage SEO campaigns
• Execute and manage PPC campaigns
• Analyze and optimize campaigns
• Communicate with clients and teammates
• Organize and prioritize campaign workflow